TOLEDO, Ohio — UToledo students will begin the fall 2020 semester in person on Aug. 17- one week before the planned first day of class - and the university is making additional adjustments to the fall academic calendar so students will end the on-campus portion of their studies by the Thanksgiving holiday.
The University of Toledo is adjusting its fall semester calendar as an additional measure to protect the campus community during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We've been working around the clock to make sure that we have a safe campus for everybody to return to" said Dr. Amy Thompson, vice provost for faculty affairs and public health professor.
In adjusting the semester, UToledo also is eliminating fall break, which was planned for Oct. 22 and 23. All final exams will be completed remotely the week of Nov. 30-Dec.4. Graduation is set for Dec. 6.
"We want to make sure that we're keeping our faculty students and staff safe by perhaps having them be online when they're traveling back and forth for Thanksgiving and not coming back to campus," Dr. Thompson said.
These changes to the academic calendar will not impact the number of weeks in the semester as students will still be on campus for the regularly scheduled 15 weeks, UToledo said.
“Adjusting the fall semester in this way provides our students with a great on-campus learning experience while also reducing the potential risk of exposure with students, faculty and staff traveling during the Thanksgiving holiday. We want to avoid, as much as possible, the potential for a member of our campus community to contract and spread the virus when returning to campus,” said Dr. Karen Bjorkman, provost and executive vice president of academic affairs.
With the change in the academic calendar, students will have the opportunity to move-in to the residence halls beginning Aug. 2 and continuing through Aug. 15. More information on the move-in process and schedule will be sent to residential students in the coming weeks. Students graduating in December will be able to move out of the residence halls after their final exams.
“There are a number of uncertainties about COVID-19, but our public health and infectious disease experts have been working closely with local and state health officials to implement proactive strategies to mitigate risk while ensuring our students’ academic success, said Dr. Amy Thompson, UToledo vice provost, and public health scholar. In the event that a ‘second wave’ of this virus in late fall becomes a reality, this strategy is one of many preventative measures UToledo can take now to protect our students and our campus community.”
UToledo continues to finalize its Rocket Restart plan to put measures in place to promote a safe return to on-campus operations. Additional details will be released in early July.